I won’t apologise to IMA, says Aamir Khan

Mangalore Today/ ITV

New Delhi, June 6: Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan today refused to apologise to the Indian Medical Association which has accused him of defaming the medical profession through his popular TV show "Satyamev Jayate" and said he is ready to face any legal action threatened by it.

"I am very comfortable if they (IMA) plan to take legal action if they feel that I have done something wrong. Of course, the courts are available for them. My answer is no, I will not be apologising," Aamir said.

 

 

The actor denied IMA’s charge of defaming and insulting the medical profession.

"I deny that I have done that. I have the highest respect and regard for the medical profession," he said.

In an episode, aired on May 27, the 47-year-old actor highlighted the malpractices in the medical profession. The IMA had demanded an immediate apology from Aamir and warned him of legal action if he failed to do so.

"Aamir Khan should apologise for having defamed and given one side of the story on medical profession. If he does not we are contemplating to take legal action against him for defaming and demoralising the medical profession in his TV show," IMA Secretary General Dr D R Rai had said.

Aamir, who has been focusing on social evils through the show, said his show is not against doctors or the medical profession.

"If the medical profession has been insulted and defamed  by anybody, it is probably by those who are indulging in unethical practises," Aamir said.

Aamir said he had received two kinds of responses from the medical profession after the episode was aired. One was the kind of response that IMA has given while the other one has been “extremely positive” from doctors.

“I have received letters from various doctors saying that they are so happy when they saw the show that finally someone is talking about this because this is something they were upset about and did not know how to deal with,” he said. These doctors were unhappy about various “unethical practises” which were going on in the medical profession.

“They have actually thanked and congratulated me for having done what I did,” he said.

Aamir said that doctor K K Talwar, head of the Medical council of India (MCI), who was on the show, had written a letter to him which was very encouraging.

“I can imagine it would not have been easy for Dr Talwar to face the tough questions that I had for him on the show that day but he faced those questions and wrote the letter after the show was televised saying that he really liked it,” the actor said.

Talwar said that everything would be done by the MCI to improve the situation.

“A statement like this really encourages me because I feel he is someone in a position of power at this point of time. If he has a positive attitude towards bringing about change, then that is wonderful to hear and know,” he said.

Aamir said he was aware that a few doctors were unhappy with him. It is upto the medical profession to take action to remove this disrepute that is faced by this noble profession.

 

Satyamev Jayate: Kidney specialist hits out at Aamir Khan


New Delhi: In the fourth episode of his widely-watched television show Satyamev Jayate, host, interlocutor and activist Aamir Khan spoke about healthcare services in India and the threat of rampant medical negligence. He called on ’victims’ to share their trauma. One such victim of alleged medical malpractice was retired Army officer Major Pankaj Rai who lost his wife Seema to what he called a botched kidney transplantation operation.

 

Although Khan or his guest did not name anyone during the course of the show, but the doctor who was involved in the case, said his legal counsel and the hospital he worked for are preparing to send a legal notice to Khan and the show producers for tarnishing a reputation he had worked hard to build over 25 years of medical service. He accused Khan of lapses in research for the show and Rai of "falsely accusing him of medical negligence" that led to the death of his wife.

Nephrologist R Sreedhara, who worked at the Fortis Hospital in Bangalore, said during a telephone interview to IBNLive that ever since the episode of Satyamev Jayate was aired he has been inundated with calls. He was the consulting physician of Seema Rai when she first came to him in June, 2008 with kidney problems. He said his "harassment" started after her operation in May, 2010 when she went into a septic shock and died. 

 

What the Rais had to say on the show

"It’s not as if people can’t live with dialysis. They called us from the hospital to tell us that a donor was available. We had her admitted to the hospital on the doctors’ advice. We were amazed that a day prior to surgery the doctors said we could transplant her pancreas as well. Have you heard of such a thing? They kept saying there’s no risk. But Seema said she wasn’t prepared for this," Rai told Khan during the May 27 episode of Satyamev Jayate. "The doctors said we could wait till the morning to get a cardiologist to take a look at her," he said.

Rai’s daughter Abha said at around 5 AM a nurse came in and claimed she had to take her mother for a routine check up and asked her to sign a form. They insisted that the hospital authorities had not taken their permission prior to the surgery.

Post-operation complications

Rai said he was asked to arrange for blood as the doctors said his wife could die on the operating table. He said the doctors estimated that the blood loss would be 390 ml. According to Rai, the doctors transplanted 119 units or approximately 60 litres of blood during the three post-operative days.

What Dr Sreedhara had to say

 

According to Dr Sreedhara, in the three days post the operation, the patient developed a severe bleeding condition called Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation or DIC. "In DIC we give blood as well as blood products like plasma. We gave the patient 33 units of blood which roughly amounts to 13 litres of blood. Mr Rai is promoting this falsehood that platelet is also same as blood, 1 unit of platelet is about 50 ml not 500 ml as he has calculated so it’s like comparing apples and oranges."

What went wrong?

Dr Sreedhara said that on the night of operation "the patient was stable throughout the night and she was evaluated by myself and transplant surgeon and the anaesthesia team for a preoperative evaluation she was stable and found fit for surgery. The transplantation started and the kidney transplantation was done first. I went to the OT just to see how she was doing. She was fine and the kidney as soon as it was transplanted started making urine. I came out of the OT and assured Mr Rai that the kidney transplantation was over and she was doing well and we were going ahead with the pancreas transplantation. He thanked me."

This contradicts with Rai’s statement that he was not aware of the surgery being done on his wife and had not given consent for it.

"By post operative day three she was becoming awake and responsive and we were about to remove the ventilator. Unfortunately on the evening of day three she developed high fever and she went into septic shock on the fourth day. Patients with diabetes or kidney failure have a high risk of infection, plus when we give all these powerful immunosuppressive medicines, the risk of infections increase further. Plus she had received a lot of blood and blood products because of bleeding," he said.

"During the entire hospitalization Mr Rai was very thankful and in fact he told me several times, ’Dr Saab how much you are struggling to save my wife, how can I thank you?’ After the patient passed away I called them several times to express my condolence. I also told the emergency room doctors to evaluate his daughter and give her some medication to calm her down. Next day again morning he called me and said ’Dr Saab please help us to get the body’, I called the hospital administration and told them please resolve their bills immediately. After that I never heard from him. Before the surgery he used to be so friendly."